What is the Catholic Rosary ?

The Catholic Rosary is many things to many different people. At its core, however, is prayer. It takes about 15-20 minutes to complete an entire rosary prayer. The basic rosary consists of the following Catholic prayers:

• The Sign of the Cross
• Apostle's Cred
• Our Father
• Hail Mary
• Glory Be
• Fatima Prayer
• Hail Holy Queen

Obviously, the Catholic rosary is much more than this. Central to praying the Catholic rosary is contemplating the twenty mysteries central to the lives of Jesus Christ and Mary, the Mother of God. Depending on the day of the week you either focus on the Joyful Mysteries (Mondays and Saturdays), Luminous Mysteries (Thursday), Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesdays and Fridays) and Glorious Mysteries (Wednesdays and Sundays). Click here for more information on the mysteries of the Rosary.  By contemplating the mysteries, the Catholic rosary becomes a lot more than just a bunch of prayers repeated aloud. It instead becomes a remembrance and celebration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Tradition has it that the modern Catholic rosary came from St. Dominic who was given the method for praying the rosary by Mary in order to fight heresy. Many Catholic Saints were devoted to the rosary through the years. Pope John Paul 2 and Mother Teresa were both devoted to our Blessed Mother and the Catholic Rosary. Today, Catholics say the rosary as a form of prayer and devotion. The rosary is especially moving when said with a group.

The Catholic Rosary is a truly an inspirational prayer.

Source:  http://www.thecatholicrosary.com/

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